


Censorship Review of Library War

by VampirePaladin



Category: Toshokan Sensou | Library War
Genre: Autobiography, Censorship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-19
Updated: 2012-10-19
Packaged: 2017-11-16 15:32:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/541031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VampirePaladin/pseuds/VampirePaladin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Media Betterment Committee is reviewing the auto-biography of Dojo Atsushi and will determine whether or not it should be censored.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Censorship Review of Library War

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Encyclopediac](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Encyclopediac/gifts).



> Encyclopediac, I hope you enjoy this fic. Your prompt was a challenge and I learnt this fandom just for writing this fic. I hope you enjoy the way I tried to work librarian ethics into this fic.

Good morning gentlemen and ladies. Today we have a very interesting book to review for censorship. It is called _Library War_. It was written by Dojo Atsushi. For those not familiar with him, he is a retired librarian from the Library Task Force. He is rather infamously known for being the teacher of their first female member. With that said, you all have an idea what to expect. Of course we will still follow protocol before voting, but we should be done with plenty of time for lunch.

Our first excerpt will be from chapter 3, page 47. “Shimada died from his injuries. For the first time I questioned my duty as a librarian. Of course protecting books still mattered to me, but were all books really that valuable? I never questioned dying for important books, books of history, religion, culture and art, or even dying for books that make people happy, like manga, picture books or even a cheesy romance with vampires. But how was this death worthwhile? Why should someone have to die for a book like _Mein Kampf_? Wouldn’t it be better if a book like that just disappeared?

“It took me a few weeks to work my feelings out. I realized that I cannot protect the books that are important to myself and other people if I pick and choose which books are worth protecting. If one book is destroyed, even one like that, it would be easy to destroy another and then another. Soon, we would be no better than the Media Betterment Committee, censoring anything we didn’t consider worthwhile.”

As you can see, book clearly shows an admiration for _Mein Kampf_. Do you feel comfortable about your children reading a book by a librarian, someone they may look up to, and telling them that a book by Hitler is worth people dying over? 

The next excerpt comes from chapter 7, page 134. “A teenage girl came up to me one afternoon in the library. She had to do a paper for her history class. I think her name was Hibiki. She told me that she had decided to do it on Japan in World War II, she wanted me to help her find books on it. I have read some of those books. World War II books are some of the most censored in all of Japan. Do I take her to the correct, uncensored books or do I direct her to the edited books like they use in the school system. In the end I decided to take her to the correct books. I know that she might get in trouble for using those books, but it is the duty of a librarian to give the correct information, not the censored information that the schools. 

“I ran into her three weeks later. She blamed me for the low score she received on the paper.”

A librarian, supposed guardians of knowledge, willingly gave an innocent school girl books about World War II that are clearly lies and propaganda spread by those that hate us and our economic strength. I visited the World War II sections in three different libraries. Most of the books were ones from other countries that had been translated into Japanese. These translations were not even printed in Japan. They were printed in Taiwan. As you know, there is a black market of foreign books that are censored in Japan. Expatriates living in Taiwan will translate them into Japanese and they will be smuggled into the country. This librarian has just admitted to showing black market books to a student, ruining her paper and possibly even permanently damaging her future for his own agenda. 

Ah, I see a question. Go ahead, speak up.

That was an excellent question Tachibana. For those that did not hear, Tachibana asked about the dedication at the front of the book. Dojo dedicates this auto-biography to his deceased wife. That does sound rather touching, doesn’t it? Of course once you know the full story it is less adorable and more like horrifying. Allow me to direct everyone’s attention to chapter 5, page 83.

“I just happened to be in the area when I saw MBC agents inside of a bookshop as I was passing by. They were manhandling a high school girl. Big men in dark clothing were trying to wrestle something away from her. It was only by chance that I caught a glimpse of the book she was trying to protect. I just could not stand by and watch this happen. I used my badge to help her. To me this just seemed like a random good deed. I could not have known that this would change my life.”

That high school girl will appear again later on in the book. She is Kasahara Iku, the first female member of the Library Task Force. He will become her drill sergeant in her training. The book will go on to recount the disgusting seduction of an innocent young woman. He coddles and trains her into being his future wife. She never even stood a chance.

I’d like all of you to look at the handouts in front of you. They contain more carefully chosen selections from Library War. Please, read them over so you can see just what a dangerous book we are dealing with. 

Is everyone ready to vote? Ryouko, would you mind tallying the votes for us? Thank you.

All those in favor of censoring _Library War_ raise your hand. All those in favor of not censoring _Library War_ raise your hand. Is anyone abstaining? Well, it looks like it is decided. The vote of censorship is unanimous and uncontested.

I will write up the censorship order and have it sent to the MBC forces. This vile book will be off the shelves by sunrise tomorrow.

I want to thank everyone for coming and making the only morally and civic choice that could be made. Now, onto more important matters: what should we have for lunch?

**Author's Note:**

> Mein Kampf is a book by Adolf Hitler and is a combination of autobiography and his ideology. It was chosen for this fic as it is a very extreme example that I think would make most people seriously consider if it was worth protecting.


End file.
